Governors must go, no golden goodbye. Thursday 3.30 Wessex House

Tuesday’s announcement that the Vice Chancellor is leaving in 2019 was clearly aimed at taking the heat out of the current crisis of governance at the university. With students holding a referendum of confidence in the governing body, and staff still seething about HEFCE’s attack on ‘poor governance’ that has damaged the university’s reputation, the prospect of a big protest outside today’s meeting of the University Council has caused panic at the top.

Our attention now, though, has to be focused on those who bear greater responsibility for the problems we are facing, and who show no sign of understanding that. They led us into this mess, they can’t lead us out of it.

That is why we are calling on all our members to demonstrate to members of the University Council that when they discuss the HEFCE report today they should consider very carefully what they have done, and what they have not done that has contributed to the failings of governance identified in the report. We are calling for a fresh start and that means a fresh look at who is running the university and how it is run.

Join your colleagues and students today at Wessex House. We will assemble in 5W2.1 from 3.15 and demonstrate our feelings to Council members as they arrive for their meeting at 3.45.